“No damn cat, and no damn cradle”: Truth and Meaning in Cat’s Cradle Essay

In Kurt Vonneguts apocalyptic tonic, Cats place of origin, the end of the hu earthly concerns has been actioningized. Plant disembodied spirit crunches underfoot, as though it has underg ane a belatedly freeze. The tropical seas surrounding the fictional island of San Lorenzo pretend solidified, assuming a dull, frosted appearance. meter waterf wholes flowing from the majestic peak of grow McCabe become livenessless. The erst-scenic island horizon is transformed into a pale, sickly yellow. The introduction of ice-nine into the environment leads to radical weather patterns and global chaos. Ice-nine is a cryst eachization form of water, much like measuring stick ice, but with a melting channelise of 114.4 stratums Fahrenheit. When the compound foxs contact with water, the liquid right a mood freezes solid, fliping a frosted blue. The novel begins with a brief but advertiseing preface Live by the foma* that make you brave and kind and happy and salutary (Vonnegut VII). Foma fragmentic number 18 defined as harmless un the trues (Vonnegut VII). season this brisk preface whitethorn merely seem to be a comical play on the quantity disclaimer pitch within or so fictional novels and therefore admiration teeny-weeny signifi gutterce, it sheds consid dateble light on the sloppy relationships between truth and meaning, as healthful as scientific discipline and godliness. Each arise of thought has its take in room of misgiving and explaining the jumbled instauration humans inhabit, and apiece claims to possess a high degree of truth. It is in this vivid and terrifying embellish that Vonnegut conveys to the makeer through body fluid and symbolization that pursuing truth, whether through righteousness, intelligence, or early(a) pathways, is non an inherently positive or beneficial and does non aid unity in the search for meaning in life.For hundreds of years, comprehension and religion take on been at odds. From the execu tion of the Greek philosopher Socrates to the Renaissance in atomic number 63 to modern times, the two debate forces have always had an abrasive relationship. The base of the Enlightenment movement in Europe in the early 17th carbon marked a turn toward science, association, and reasoning. It is from this era that modern society derives the notion that truth, on with the quest for it, is intrinsic eithery constructive for earthly concern, on with the belief that lies are detrimental to the cause. In Cats Cradle, this is shown not to be the case. At the world(a) Forge and Foundry, scientists and lookers tap tirelessly to increase knowledge, towork toward no end but that (Vonnegut 41). It is here that Felix Hoenikker, the beginner of the atom go bad and of ice-nine and winner of the Nobel serenity Prize (a prime example of Vonneguts trademark humor), spends the final twenty-eight years of his life toiling away in the confines of his lab. Felix is a very dewy-eyed charact er, incapable of caring for himself and struggling with interpersonal interactions. Following the finis of his wife Emily musical composition in labor with Newt, his daughter Angela assumes the agnate position of the disjointed household collectable to Felixs childlike constitution. She forgoes any(prenominal) kindly interaction with peers in order to hold the family together. Frank Hoenikker, the middle child, follows agree, becoming an unsociable figure in the book. He becomes cognize as secret agent X-9 on account of his perpetual business-like demeanor. Felix neglects his parental duties, opting kinda to spend time on research and scientific pursuits. John Tomedi views the scientist symbolic in ally Hoenikker serves as a symbol of scientific irresponsibility, a man so withdrawn from realism and so foc utilize on youthful play with nature that he has no perspective on the effects of his creations and a total apathy for theirs uses (Tomedi 41).As a get hold of resul t of Felixs actions, his children prolong from the deficiency of true parental figures. The Hoenikker children stomach be considered casualties of science and truth. It is at the General Forge and Foundry that two major(ip) scientific advancements are make the atomic bomb and ice-nine. While both incorporate cutting-edge scientific knowledge, the culmination of unnumberable hours of research and give wayment, neither invention represents the approach of humanity. As Vonnegut himself says, Its a law of nature of life that if you turn up something that can be used violently, it will be used violently (Allen 97). The atom bomb leads to the death of tens of thousands in the events at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, period ice-nine leads to the destruction of the entire world. The destructive nature of ice-nine and the atom bomb, inventions that were fostered by science, is in direct contradiction to the concept that science and knowledge benefit humankind ascribable stringently to t heir foundation in truth.Following the ice-nine catastrophe, John, the narrator and protagonist, finds himself in an underground fallout nurture with an different resident of the island. John offers to plough apportion with her unmatched of the secrets of life man was along time envisioning Animals pass off in what animals breathe out, and vice versa (Vonnegut 268). mavin with basic knowledge of science would at present notice an error in the writing. The text should read something to the effect of animals breathe in what plants breathe out. This unimportant error proves Vonneguts point the truth is irrelevant. The misinformation changes nothing. This situationoid proves useless, not due to its false nature, but rather to its solid world application, or lack thereof. oneness Another parallel experience occurs at the bar in the town of Ilium. While John is enjoying a drink, he poses a apparent motion What is the secret of life? I asked. I forget, enjoin Sandra. Protein, the bartender declared. They found out something about protein (Vonnegut 25). Again, this piece of information has little relevance in the real world. It is not sledding to improve humanity or save anes life. It is merely a fact to satisfy ones curiosity. Vonnegut also uses humor to prove his point How can anybody in his right mind be against science? asked Crosby. Id be unawares right now if it wasnt for penicillin, said Hazel. And so would my mother. How old is your mother? I inquired. A hundred and six. Isnt that terrific? (Vonnegut 234). The use of the word wonderful is questionable. A long life does not jibe to a quality one. Science, being founded on truth and knowledge, does not benefit humanity. On the tropical island of San Lorenzo, the denizens of the country would be confront with the depressing truth if it were not for the mensural lies of Bokononism. In 1922, two friends, Lionel Boyd Johnson and Earl McCabe, shipwreck on the island shortly after setting sail.The state of the nation is so poor, no one start outs to prevent the foreigners from taking power. Initially, the duo re signifiers to a form of communism. They amass the entire wealth of the nation and divide it equally among its galore(postnominal) residents. Each islanders share amounts to approximately six dollars. Realizing the futility of their efforts to advance the island economically, they turn to another solution religion. Johnson devises his own religion, which becomes know as Bokononism. To add some disposition to the monotonous life on the island, the partners develop roles to fulfill in a sort of play. Johnson becomes known as Bokonon, while McCabe becomes a violent dictator whose sole cathexis is to capture and kill Bokonon. This drama contributes greatly to the popularity of the religion, thus benefitting the island population. The islanders are subject to substandardliving conditions poverty, pestilence, and famine are prevalent. The island lacks the required res ources to develop. They face a bleak and futureless future. Rather than facing the reality of periodic life, they adopt the fabricated religion of Bokononism when it became unmixed that no government or economic reform was going to make the tribe much less miserable, the religion became the one real instrument of hope. Truth was the confrontation of the battalion, because the truth was so terrible, so Bokonon made it his business to provide the people with demote and better lies. (Vonnegut 172)Following a uniform form to the beginning of the actual novel, the Books of Bokonon, the religions equivalence to the Bible, warns the reader jadet be a fall guy Close this book at once It is nothing but foma (Vonnegut 265). This line establishes the cocksucker nature of the Books of Bokonon, and, subsequently, the religion of Bokononism in its entirety. The lack of truth is beneficial because When people accept that they have the Truth, they seek to impose their beliefs on others, and religious wars are the inevitable result. The highest truth in Bokonons religion is that all spiritual truths are actually expedient fictions, creations of the imagination that do not subsist outside of the human mind. The meaning of life is not something we can discover in the outside world. We moldiness create it for ourselves (Marvin 89). The religion is openly founded on falsehoods. In fire of this, the residents of San Lorenzo experience a real, tangible benefit. The thoroughgoing(a) reality of life on the marginal island is too much to bear therefore, Bokonon feeds the residents intensify lies. Bokononism proves more beneficial to the residents of San Lorenzo than the alternative science. though at its foundation Bokononism is series of untruths, that fact does not limit the religion in its ability to aid those in need.Vonnegut portrays all religions as unreliable texts despite claims to the contrary. The islands dictatorial president, Papa Monzano, is dying a miser able death from cancer. As his death nears, Papa undergoes his last rites with the aid of a Christian minister, who was ready to take trade of Papas spiritual involve as they arose. He had a aspect dinner bell and a hatbox with holes cut in it, and a Bible, and a bloomer knife- all laid out on the bench beside him. He told me there was a live weakly interacting massive particle in the hatbox. The chicken was quiet, he said, because he had fed ittranquilizers He turned out to be an skilful man. His doctorate, which he invited me to examine, was awarded by the Western cerebral hemisphere University of the Bible of Little Rock, Arkansas He had said that he had had to feel his way along with Christianity, since Catholicism and Protestantism had been outlawed along with Bokononism. So, if I am to be a Christian under those conditions, I have to make up a broadcast of new stuff. (Vonnegut 214) Much like Bokonon, the Christian minister fabricates new aspects of the religion to suit his needs. Daniel Minguez offers a thorough inspection This query implies that one may rely upon an cringle of Christianity with the same confidence of its truth as one may rely upon their own guesswork at the workings of the universe It shows that Christianity is just as effective without the accepted dogma of the Catholic or Protestant church and renders the text as inconsequential to the enactment of Christianity itself (Minguez 9) The Christian minister offers a distorted and absurd version of the religion. He makes additions to the religion with little regard for its supposed(p) sanctity despite having been well educated. By doing so, he strips Christianity, in addition to all religion, of its credibility.Religion and science are used as vehicles to pursue a deeper question regarding humanity what is the role of life? The world inhabited by humans is mysterious, unpredictable, and lastly meaningless. The characters in Cats Cradle are in search of use of goods and servic es and meaning. In an attempt to find such, they appendage religion and science for true reckoning. Bokononism and science strive to create meaning and bearing for the lives their followers. Bokononists believe that humanity is organized into team ups, teams that do perfections Will without incessantly discovering what they are doing. Such a team is called a karass (Vonnegut 2). This is the stated purpose of Bokononism to behave out theologys will. though Bokononism does not explicitly condemn the attempt to understand God, it merely states that such investigations are bound to be incomplete (Vonnegut 4). One cannot understand or comprehend God I once knew an Episcopalian peeress in Newport, Rhode Island, who asked me to design and build a dog house for her Great Dane. The lady claimed to understand God and His Ways of Working perfectly. She could not understand why anyone should be perplex about what had been or about what was going to be. And yet, when I showed her a bl ueprint of the doghouse I proposed to build, she said to me,Im sorry, but I neer could read one of those things. Give it to your husband or your minister to pass it on to God, I said, and, when God finds a minute, Im sure hell explain this doghouse of mine in a way that even you could understand. She fired me. I shall never forget her. She believed that God liked people in sailboats much better than He liked people in motorboats. She could not bear to look at a worm. When she saw a worm, she screamed. She was a fool, and so am I, and so is anyone who thinks he sees what God is Doing. (Vonnegut 4) This does little to satisfy mans natural hope to know and understand his environment because any invented sense-making system is continually disproved by mans go awaying experience of the world, and the arbitrariness of events perpetually defeats any system of alleged causalities (Bloom 91). Man must learn to accept such a situation tiger got to hunt,Bird got to flyMan got to sit and wo nder, Why, why, why?Tiger got to sleep,Bird got to landMan got to tell himself he understand. (Vonnegut 182)In mans attempt to create meaning, he may weave fiction to appease his desire for purpose, though such systems are deemed invalid. It is mans responsibility to forge purpose and meaning for ones existence. Vonneguts writings in Cats Cradle show that truth is not innately positive, and that lies are the opposite. Science, sharing an well-educated relation to truth and knowledge, is the source of operative regression and damage to humanity in the form of the nuclear bomb and ice-nine. The atom bomb produces suffering, death, and environmental damage on an unprecedented scale, while ice-nine utterly annihilates all life on the planet. On the other hand, the fabricated religion of Bokononism, while founded on falsehoods, brings hope to the otherwise hopeless. It creates a haze over to mask the otherwise unavoidable reality of life on the barren island of San Lorenzo. Bokononis m and science are used by their followers to create meaning and purpose in their lives. This leads to the final conclusion that it is ultimately up to man to create meaning for an otherwise meaningless existence.Works CitedAllen, William R., ed. Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut. Jackson University of Mississippi, 2001. Print. Bloom, Harold, ed. sophisticated faultfinding Interpretations Kurt Vonneguts Cats Cradle. Broomall Haights Cross Communications, 2002. Print. Marvin, Thomas F. Kurt Vonnegut A Critical Companion. Westport Greenwood, 2002. Print. Minguez, Daniel. Cats Cradle The revelation of Human Thought. OxyScholar. Occidental College, 1 Apr. 2009. Web. 13 Feb. 2013. Tomedi, John. Great Writers Kurt Vonnegut. Philadelphia Chelsea House, 2004. Print.